Ball-cock.



C. H. ELLIS. BALL COCK.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19, 191-1.

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COLUMBIA PLANGGRAPH Co.,\vA=n1N Patented oet. 15,1912.

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CHARLES k:EL ELLIS, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BALL-COCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led September 19, 1911.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912. Serial No. 650,106.

To all whom it may concern: y

Be it known that l, CHARLES H. ELLrs, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBall- Cocks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ball cocks for controlling the admission ofwater to a flushing tank, and has for its object to provide a ball cockwhich shall be practically noiseless in operation and is adapted tooperate accurately in lett-ing on and shutting off water withoutliability to leakage after long continued use.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed todescribe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a top plan view of aball cock embodying my invention: Fig. 2 represents a longitudinalsection on line 2--2 of Fig. 1, showing the cock valve closed: Fig. 3represents a section similar to Fig. 2, showing the cock valve open.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings,-12 represents the cock casing which is provided withears 13 adapted to be attached to the wall 14 of a flushing tank. Thecasing is provided with a valve chamber which comprises a cylindricalportion and is open at one end, and is provided at the other end with aninlet 15 surrounded by a flat annular valve seat 16 forming t-he innerend of the valve chamber.

17 represents a cylindrical plunger valve which has a sliding tit in thevalve ,chamber and has an inner endface adapted to abut against the seat16. Said inner face is composed of two annular portions 18V and 18a, oneof which is a metallic face formed on the valve body, while the othervis the outer end of an annular elastic rubber packing ring or washerinserted in an annular groove or recess 19 formed in the inner end ofthe valve. The washer is formed so that its outer end normally projects'slightly beyond the end of the valve and is compressed by pressure ofthe valve against the seat 16. The rigid annular face 18 is flat and ofsubstantial width so that it has a relatively wide bearing on the valveseat. When the portion 18 abuts against the seat, the washer is undercompression, its compression being positively limited, however, by thebearing of the portion 18 on the valve seat, so that there is nopossibility of injurious compression of the washer. The rigid portion 18of the valve face is formed to accurately fit the portion of the valveseat against which it bears so that only the most minute crevice existsbetween said portion and t-he valve seat when the valve is closed. Theonly duty required of t-he elastic washer is, therefore, to prevent thepossibility of the slight leakage which might otherwise occur betweenthe portion 10 and the valve seat, or, in other words, to pack the ointbetween the rigid faces of the valve and seat, hence, the washerrequires very little compression and may be made of very elastic rubberadapted to retain its elasticity for a protracted length of time. Thevalve thus constructed is at once efficient and durable.

The casing 12 is provided with an enlargement at its inner endcontaining a passage 20 which surrounds the inner end portion of thevalve and communicates with the inlet 15 when the valve is open. Saidpassage preferably increases gradually in width from the upper to thelower side of the casing, as indicated by Figs. 2 and 3, the lowerportion of the passage being considerably wider or having a greatercross sectional area that the upper portion.

21 represents a downwardly projecting outlet nozzle formed on the outerportion of the casing and communicating with the passage 20 at 22, thepassage through said nozzle being of greater conducting capacity thanthat of the inlet 15. The nozzle 21 is arranged to discharge water intothe tank. The conducting capacity of the curved passage 2O is alsogreater than that of the inlet 15, so that when the valve is open thepassage 20 Vand nozzle 21 constitute a conduit, the con- .ductingcapacity of which is greater than that of the inlet 15. Said conduit isimmediately filled with water by the spreading of the stream flowingthrough the inlet. The movement of the water in cont-act with the wallsof the conduit is retarded by friction, this being surplus water inexcess of the volume of the active stream determined by the size of theinlet. The retarded water constitutes a slowly moving surface stream orcushion which surrounds. the said active stream and renders thedischarge practically noiseless. The movement of the surplus water isretarded also by atmospheric pressure which permits the unretardedescape of only a stream determined by the inlet. The gradual increase inthe capacity of the passage 20 from the top downwardly facilitates thespreading of the stream and affords a large area of retardingl surfacein contact with the exterior of the stream.

The casing 12 is provided at its outer end with two outwardly projecting'ears 2st`separated by a space which receives the shorter arm of a floatlever which is fulcrumed on a stud 25 inserted in said ears. The floatlever includes a longer arm 2G which projects over the flushing tank andis provided with a suitable float (not shown) and a bifurcated shorterarm, the branches 26a of which project between the ears 24 and areseparated by a space across which extends a stud 27 attached to saidbranches.

28 represents a strut having a semi-spherical inner end seated in anoutwardly facing semi-spherical socket 30 formed at the inner end of arec-ess 31 in the outer end portion of the valve 17. The outer endportion 33 of the strut extends between the lever branchesl 26a and hasa tapering recess 32, the inner end of which is adapted to rock on thestud 27.

The float lever is provided with a projection 34 immediately over itsfulcrum, said projection having a cam shaped face or abutment 35, theinner end of which is in close proximity to the fulcrum. When the waterfalls in the tank, the shorter arm of the lioat lever is raised and thestud 27 bearing on the inner end of the recess 32 raises the outer endportion of the strut from the abutment 35 so that the valve is permittedto open, as shown by Fig. 3. lVhen the water rises in the tank, theshorter arm of the float lever is depressed and the outer end portion ofthe strut is correspondingly depressed until it bears on the innerportion of the abutment 35. During the first part of the depression ofthe shorter arm the stud 27 pressing against one side of the recess 32,exerts an initial valve-closing pressure on the strut unaided by theabutment 35, the cam shape of the latter preventing its contact with thestrut until the valve is nearly closed and the pressure of the wateragainst the valve has considerably increased.

. The nal or closing pressure on the valve is caused by the bearing ofthe abutment 35 on lthe strut and is much stronger than that caused bythe bearing of the stud 27 on the wall of the recess 32, owing to theclose proximity of the acting inner portion of the abutment to thefulcrum of the float lever. This final pressure is sutlicient toovercome the water pressure at the inlet and compress the elastic washerin the valve, and occurs during a relatively slight upward movement ofthe longer arm of the float lever. The

Ibranches of the shorter arm of the float lever are provided with aretaining pin 36, which prevents the strut from moving upwardly out ofthe Aspace between said branches, as indicated by Fig. 3. The bearing ofthe abutment 35 on the strut prevents any possibility of leakage betweenthe valve and its seat, which might be caused by wear of the stud 27 andthe portion of the strut in contact therewith.

I claim:

1. A ball cock comprising a casing. having a valve chamber, an inlet atthe inner end of the chamber, a valve seat surrounding the inlet, anoutlet communicating with the inner portion of the valve chamber, aplunger valve movable in the chamber and having a valve face at itsinner end adapted to abut against. said seat, and an outwardly facingcentrally located socket, a float lever fulcrumed on the casing, and astrut seated at its inner end in said socket, said lioat lever and struthaving complemental means for moving the strut from t-he valve seat topermit the valve to open, and for successively exerting initial andfinal valve-closing pressures on the strut.

2. A ball cock comprising a casing having a valve chamber, an inlet atthe inner end of the chamber, a valve seat surrounding t-he inlet, anoutlet communicating with the inner portion of the valve chamber, aplunger valve movable in the chamber and having a valve face at itsinner end adapted to abut against said seat, and an outwardly facingcentrally located socket, a float lever fulcrumed on the casing andhaving longer and shorter arms and an abutment between said arms inclose proximity to the fulcrum, a strut seated at its inner end in saidsocket and connections between the shorter arm of the oat lever and thestrut whereby the strut may be moved from its seat inthe socket by theelevation of the shorter arm to permit the valve to open and may bemoved toward its seat in the socket by the depression of said arm topartially close the valve, the abutment being arranged to bear on theouter end of the strut and exert a final valve-closing pressure thereon.

3. A ball cock comprising a casing having a valve chamber, an inlet atthe inner end of the chamber, a valve seat surrounding the inlet, anout-let communicating with the inner portion of the valve chamber, aplunger valve movable in the chamber and having a valve face at itsinner end adapted to abut against said seat, and composed of a rigidportion and an elastic portion normally projecting therefrom, said valvehaving an outwardly facing centrally located socket, a float leverfulcrumed on the casing and having longer and shorter arms and anabutment between said arms in close proximity to the fulcrum, a strutseated at its inner end in said socket, and connections between theshorter arm of the float lever and the strut whereby the strut may bemoved from its seat in the socket by the elevation of the shorter arm topermit the valve to open, and may be moved toward its seat in the socketby the depression oi said arm to partially close the valve, the abutmentbeing arranged to bea-r on the o-uter end of the strut and eXert a iinalvalve-closing pressure thereon, said pressure compressing the elasticportion of the valve face.

4. A ball cock comprising a casing having a valve chamber comprising acylindrical portion which is open at one end of the casing, an inlet atthe inner end of the chamber, an annular valve seat surrounding theinlet, an outlet communicating with the inner portion of the valvechamber, ears projecting from the outer end of the valve casing, acylindrical plunger valve movable in said cylindrical portion and havinga face at its inner end adapted to abut against the valve seat and arecess in its outer end terminating in a centrally located semisphericalsocket, a ioat lever fulcrumed to said ears and having a cam-shapedabutment above its fulcrum and a bifurcated shorter arm, the branches ofwhich are connected by a pivot stud and by a retaining pin extendingacross the space between the said branches, a strut having asemispherical inner end seated in said socket, and a recess the innerend of which bears on said pivot stud and is adapted to turn thereon,the outer portion of said strut projecting outwardly from said stud overthe pivot of the float lever, and being formed to bear on said abutmentwhen the float lever is raised to its valve-closing position, the strutbeing coniined in engagement with the stud by the said retaining pin.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES H. ELLIS. Vitnesses:

A. W. HARRISON, P. W. PEZZETTI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of lPatents, Washington, D. C.

